


we were not made to walk small under these stars

by codedredalert



Series: One Piece daemon AU snapshots [4]
Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Angst, Character Study, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 06:58:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20254048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codedredalert/pseuds/codedredalert
Summary: The shape of Law’s soul was decided in that treasure chest the moment Doflamingo shot Cora-san.





	we were not made to walk small under these stars

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons are basically someone's soul walking around outside their body in the shape of an animal. The daemon is usually a different biological sex from the person. The type of animal usually shifts until the person is an adult, and then it settles as one form. It is possible but extremely rare for the animal to change after reaching adulthood. The animal is indicative of a person's character.

"I love you," said Cora-san. He looked terrible— his makeup was running, he was bleeding and there was snot and tears and bruises and swelling but he smiled broadly as ever and all that startled Law just long enough for Cora-san to shut the lid of the treasure chest on him. 

"Cora-san!" shouted Law but he couldn't hear his own voice in his ears, he only felt the vibrations as his throat worked. By now, he was familiar with Cora-san's Silence, the eerie cut out of all sound, even Law's own heartbeat and breath. The sounds from outside the chest still carried on, some muffled and some amplified by the wood— Cora-san's ragged breathing. Cora-san's weakening heartbeat. Doflamingo. 

Law had never feared Doflamingo before. Law had sworn away fear when Flevance fell, but somehow, somewhere along the way, in between burning down hospitals and crying on Law's behalf, Cora-san had picked that fear right back up and returned it to Law.

Outside, Doflamingo was furious, and Cora-san replied lightly, even triumphantly, only making Doflamingo angrier. Idiot Cora-san, stupid, idiot, absolute _ moron_, what was he _ doing_? He'd _lied_, he'd sworn up and down that Doflamingo wouldn't hurt him, but Doflamingo would. Law couldn't see how Doflamingo _wouldn't_, if Cora-san answered like that. Law tried to push open the lid, but Cora-san's stupidly large body held it down.

There was a soft thud, Cora-san's elbow against the chest. A quiet plea for Law to settle down, to not give himself away. Law's heart twisted its way up his throat, but he lowered his hands, clenched them into fists to stop them from shaking. 

Diana curled around Law in that liquid way cats did, but even then she filled almost the whole interior of the chest, her fur and warmth making the damp wood smell even more suffocating. 

"Di, could you be a bit smaller?" Law asked. Silence still cut out his voice, but he didn't need to be heard to speak to his soul. 

Diana hesitated. 

"I… I'm not sure I can," she responded, the words coming through to Law as thought and uncertainty rather than sound. 

Law had expected that a little bit. He didn't feel the bottomless rage he had with the wolverine or the searching precision of the owl. He didn't feel like anything, really, but he supposed he felt like other things even less than he felt like a snow leopard. This was who he was, now.

"Shall I try?" asked Diana softly. Law wrapped his arms around her, and felt her heartbeat in time with his own, thudding against his chest where his own heart raced in helpless anxiety. 

"No." Law buried his face in her fur, ears straining to hear the words exchanged between the two brothers, outside in the snow. "It's fine."

"I'm sorry," whispered Diana. 

Outside, Doflamingo shot— _ one_, 

(Law's breath caught, because—_ no_, )

_ two_, 

(no, this couldn't be happening, Cora-san had promised, he'd promised that Doflamingo wouldn't, except Cora-san was clearly a lying _liar_ and how _dare_ Doflamingo, this shouldn't be happening, except— ) 

_ three_, 

(the treasure chest shook with the impact of the bullets hitting Cora-san's body. Distantly, Law knew that Cora-san's body was stopping the bullets from going through to the chest where Law was hidden, where they might hit Law, why, _ why_, it should be the other way round instead, stupid, _ idiot _Cora-san, Law was dying anyway, and even if Law was young, even if he didn't want to die at all— ) 

_ four_, 

(it should be the other way around)

_ five_, 

(not Doflamingo shooting Cora-san, but the other way, _ any _ other way, _ anything _— ) 

_ … _ ** _six_**. 

(... Law was going to _ kill _Doflamingo.) 


End file.
